Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Top 20 (alpha order): 2001, All About Eve, Babe, The Best Years of Our Lives, City of God (Brazil), Cinema Paradiso (Italy), The Conformist (Italy), Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather II, Hannah and Her Sisters, Hero (China), Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (France), Lawrence of Arabia, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, My Fair Lady, Once Upon a Time in America, Parenthood, Requiem for a Dream, The Seven Samurai (Japan), The Shawshank Redemption, Wall-E

Top 100 in alphabetical order

2001: A Space Odyssey

The 400 Blows * (France, bw)

A Clockwork Orange

A Room With a View

A Wednesday (India) *

After the Wedding (Denmark) *

Aliens

All About Eve (bw)

Amadeus

Annie Hall

Apocalypse Now!

As Good as It Gets

Babel (Mexico)

Babe

Baraka * (Documentary)

Battle of Algiers (France-Algiers, bw)

The Best Years of Our Lives (bw)

Big Fish

Brazil

The Bridge On the River Kwai

Carmen (Spain, flamenco version)

Casablanca (bw)

Central Station * (Brazil)

Chicago

Chungking Express * (China/Hong Kong)

Cinema Paradiso (Italy)

City of God (Brazil)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Conformist, The (Italy)

Conversation, The

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (China)

Dances With Wolves

Dangerous Liaisons

Departures * (Japan)

Devils on the Doorstep * (China)

Diva (France)

Doctor Strangelove (bw)

Double Indemnity (bw)

The Empire Strikes Back

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Field of Dreams

Finding Neverland

Finding Nemo

Fitzcarraldo (Germany)

Gandhi

The Godfather

The Godfather, Part II

Good Bye, Lenin! * (Germany)

Goodfellas

Goodnight Mister Tom

Graduate, The

The Gray Fox

Groundhog Day

Hannah and Her Sisters

Hero (China)

Hoop Dreams (Documentary)

Hope and Glory

House of Games

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (France)

Kolya (Czech Republic)

L'america (Italy)

The Last Emperor

L'avventura (Italy, bw)

Lawrence of Arabia

La Femme Nikita (France)

The Last Emperor

The Last Picture Show (bw)

The Lives of Others (Germany)

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Manhattan (bw)

The Maltese Falcon (bw)

Memento

Million Dollar Baby

Minority Report

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington *

My Brilliant Career

My Fair Lady

The Namesake *

Network

Night of the Hunter (bw)

Norma Rae

Nowhere in Africa (Germany)

October Sky

On the Waterfront (bw)

Once Upon a Time in America

Open Range

Out of the Past (bw)

Parenthood

The Philadelphia Story (bw)

Platoon

The Player

Rabbit-Proof Fence *

Raging Bull (bw)

Raising Arizona

Requiem for a Dream *

The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2)

Run Lola Run (Germany)

Salaam Bombay! * (India)

Schindler's List (bw)

The Seven Samurai (Japan, bw)

Shakespeare in Love

Shane

The Shawshank Redemption

The Silence of the Lambs

Singin' in the Rain

Sunset Boulevard (bw)

The Sweet Smell of Success (bw)

To Kill a Mockingbird (bw)

To Live (China)

Together (China) *

Traffic

Turtles Can Fly (Iraq-Iran-France) *

The Twilight Samurai (Japan)

Umberto D * (Italy)

V for Vendetta

Walkabout

Wall-E

Whale Rider

Winged Migration (Documentary)

When Harry Met Sally

Zelary (Czech Republic)

Ok, so I can't count - that's why I had them auto-numbered.. call this a "baker's 100", you get ten dozens. 'So many movies, so little time..' (to paraphrase Raising Arizona)

Thirty are foreign language films.. always watch the subtitled and not the 'dubbed into English' versions.. once you know the dialogue (usually once), you can watch them without subtitles and see just the film itself.. A few more titles are films in English from foreign directors, such as Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, Italy), The Last Emperor (Bertolucci, Italy), and The Namesake (Nair, India).

Just Removed: It's a Wonderful Life, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Citizen Kane, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ugetsu (Japan), Slumdog Millionaire, Duck Soup, Auntie Mame, Patton, Mephisto, A Christmas Story, Sybil, Gangs of New York, Back to the Future

Low on the List (next to go): The Last Picture Show, As Good As It Gets, Devils on the Doorstep, Norma Rae, Manhattan, Goodfellas TV Miniseries (that would be in the top 100): 1. Band of Brothers (10 hrs) 2. Planet Earth (12 hrs) 3. Into the West (12 hrs) 4. Brideshead Revisited (10 hrs) 5. Lonesome Dove (6 hrs) 6. The Prisoner (13 hrs, 17 episodes)

Helena Bonham Carter never fails to thrill me. Some others of hers worth watching:- Wings of the Dove (awesome, Oscar nom'd performance; her first nude 'bonk scene', in her words, 'can I say that on TV?')- Fight Club (terrific as Norton's girlfriend (overlooked by Oscar, great supporting performance)- Conversations With Other Women (bizarre two person 'play' with her and Aaron Eckhart meeting at a wedding reception, may already have a past together)- Big Fish (she's disguised as the old crone in the leaning house; her bf Tim Burton's best film, imo)- Sweeney Todd (who would have thought she could sing that well?)

There are more, these are the ones that come to mind the quickest. Along with Room With a View, quite an impressive handful.. every performance worthy of an Oscar nomination..

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Introduction to World's Best Films

We will review (spoiler-free capsule reviews) and list the greatest films in history, wherever and whenever they were produced.

All films in Gold won Best Picture Oscars®. * is a new addition in a list.

Our Top Ranked 1000 Films, all polls, was compiled by taking all film polls we could find, throwing them into a spreadsheet, and gave numeric points in descending order. The result was over 2200 films listed in all, ranked by their relative positions in all the polls combined. This combination of both critics and fans polls should give film fans the most objective list of how films are perceived by the total film community, not just a small group of fans.

Relevant to said mission is the following query which I now put forth to you: wherein this most streamlined and trunkless of transports, boner-inspiring though it may be, wherein are we to reposit our most recently deceased cargo?” - Sin City

Go ahead, make my millenium! - Beetlejuice

I have nothing, I am a river to my people! - Lawrence of Arabia

Hey, senor, how much for the leetul girl? How much for the women? - The Blues Brothers

It's a girl and a midget, 'gidget', get it? - Gidget

I've worked in the private sector, they expect results. - Ghostbusters

Man, that's one big twinkie! - Ghostbusters

I put the grrr in swinger, baby! - Austin Powers

Badges? We don got to show you no stinkin badges! - The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Boredom's the first step on the road to relapse - Clerks II

I ain't 'people'! I am a.. 'a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament' - Singin' in the RainIf we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'. - Singin' in the Rain (both from Jean Hagen)

..More Quotes

I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore! - Network

Lend all men thine ear, but lend few your tongue - Hamlet

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. - Hamlet

Doubt the the stars are fire; doubt that the moon's above; doubt that the truth's a liar; but never doubt my love - Hamlet

I picked a helluva week to give up _____ - Airplane!

You can always pay half the poor to kill the other half. - Boss Tweed, Gangs of New York

The first rule of politics: the ballots don't make the election winner, the counters make the winner. - Boss Tweed, Gangs of New York

Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night - All About Eve

You can still dish it out, but you just can't take it anymore - Little Caesar